The invention relates to solubilizing and spreading materials especially lawn, garden and agricultural chemicals.
The predominant procedure presently used for spreading fertilizer on home lawns is to place a portion of a bag of particulate fertilizer in a wheeled hopper having a rotational metering device for dispensing the fertilizer by gravity. These fertilizer spreaders are usually metallic and therefore short lived due to the corrosive action of the fertilizer in contact with the spreader's metal parts. Unless the spreader is thoroughly cleaned after each use the grate-like metering device will become so rusted that the spreader can no longer be used effectively. A well-made metallic fertilizer spreader is fairly expensive especially in light of the short life of the spreader. In addition to the short life of the wheeled fertilizer spreader extensive time and effort must be expended to load the spreader and deliver the fertilizer to the various parts of a lawn. In addition, most fertilizers must then be watered in, requiring proper placement of hoses and time consuming movement of the hoses to provide water coverage for the entire lawn. The watering aspect of the fertilization process can be partially overcome by utilizing a large number of hoses and sprinklers presuming there are sufficient hydrants available.
Attempts have been made to obviate the difficulties involved in applying fertilizer to home lawns. Service companies are generally available in urban areas which use liquid fertilizer disposed under pressure. Although this process is somewhat less time consuming, the procedure is labor intensive and equipment life may be short lived and require a high maintenance effort.
Solid cake fertilizer has been used for feeding trees and shrubs. The solid fertilizer is normally positioned such that water will pass over the solid, solubilizing the caked fertilizer's exterior surface, and is normally directed beneath the ground by a long slender tube having a valved lower opening. Such devices perform fairly satisfactorily, however, their use is limited to very localized areas.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,563,961 describes apparatus for applying solid cake fertilizer through a rotary sprinkler. This device suffers from the disadvantages of the high cost of solid cake fertilizer and the limited space available for containing the fertilizer. Because of the limited fertilizer space the sprinkler presumably would have to be relocated fairly often.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,165,114 describes a dispensing package where fertilizer is heat sealed in a flexible plastic material. Water is passed through the interior of the package which mixes and solubilizes the fertilizer prior to its exit from the bag. It is extremely doubtful that such a device could withstand the high pressures inherent in city water systems. A pressure reduction manifold would be necessary for its use which would make its cost prohibitive.
In addition to the problems present in spreading fertilizer there are other difficulties with dispensing lawn, garden and agricultural chemicals such as insecticides, herbicides and soil conditioners. Generally these materials are dispensed through hose end sprayers, pressurized container sprayers and hand pumps. Each of these methods are hazardous due to the proximity of the operator to the dispensing device. The operator is exposed to contact with the chemicals which can injure sensitive membranes. If excessive contact occurs, as in windy conditions, serious injury can result.
It is therefore the object of the present invention to provide a new and improved method and apparatus for distributing materials for lawn and garden care as well as general agricultural use.